Name: Kamigoten Ryokan
Address: 42 Ryujin Ryujin-mura Tanabe-shi Wakayama 645-0525, Tanabe, Tanabe, Tanabe, 645-0525, Japan
Rating: 8

Nanki–Shirahama Airport

Kamigoten Ryokan

Stellar onsen experience. 

The aesthetic of the river below makes this a superb ryoken.
Food was excellent. The private open pool you've seen in all the photos is what you've come for!!

The only thing less than 5 star is it not set in the absolute woods. It's fairly isolated, but there are some other onsens nearby, including a large, out-of-business and empty one across the river. Nontheless, I would go back in a heart-beat

Very glad to have made a stop in this quiet onsen town and have stayed in this historical ryokan.  There are very few tourists (mostly Japanese) anywhere.  We managed to check in and be directed to our room as early as 10am in the morning and didn't see another guest during our stay -- although I know there should be another couple staying there that night, considering the shoes we saw at the front doorsteps.  All this made our stay very personal.  We could each have the entire changing room and interior communal onsen bath by ourselves.  We also enjoyed our exterior private onsen bath in a rock garden setting.  Note that they don't have bathrooms in any of their rooms.  You may however choose to have a toilet which is very useful.  The view from the room we had facing the river and the mountains during the fall foliage season was beautiful.
One could choose to have the meal served inside the room or in the communal dining area.  I appreciate that they brought out some food (like tempura) at a later time during the meal, making sure that they didn't get cold or soggy.
Given this is a small town, there are not too many places that offer lunches.  We took a 15-min walk to Koubou Yuzuyume cafe (香房 ゆず夢cafe) as it seems to be the only one that stayed open that day according to our hosts.
If you are coming from Hongu Taisha direction, try to come here before Nov 30 by their tourist bus that only runs up to then.  Otherwise, you will have to go all the way to Tanabe and come back here again.  In any case, even with the tourist bus, there is only one each day (except weekend).  Remember to make seat reservations on line through Kumano Travel which I found very efficient and well run.

Kamigoten was a bit out of the way for us, requiring us to reconfigure the order of our trip to fit it in as several of the buses in the area stop running for the winter on November 30. That being said, it was absolutely worth the trip. We caught the local bus from Kii-Tanabe station and took the nearly-two-hour trip up. The bus dropped us off right in front of the ryokan. 

Upon arrival, we were immediately shown to our room and given the usual ryokan tour of the inn. The hosts' English wasn't very good, but we weren't the first foreigners to visit and the necessities were communicated just fine with printed material where necessary. A word of advice: you may want to watch a video of how a ryokan visit works before coming if this is your first-ever visit to ease matters. 

The baths were excellent. The inn absolutely does justice to the water stemming from one of Japan's three historically great beautifying onsen. The food, too, was fantastic. The ryokan only had a translated course list for our first dinner there, but I can truthfully claim that further meals were just as good even if we weren't entirely sure of the identities of 100% of the ingredients. It is worth noting that they change the menu up with additional days that you spend there. 

When we checked out, our hosts were very conscientious about making sure that we caught the correct bus to Koyasan (as it was the only bus of the day). It was just an extra nice touch to show what hospitality means to them. 

Peace and quiet!
Ryokan accommodation with indoor and outdoor onsen.
Beautiful scenery with a river below the property. View from my room looks over the river. You can also hear the river when you are in the outdoor onsen.
Lovely accommodation. Wonderful service.
Bus stop is just outside the door but bus is infrequent - need to check the times of the bus.

It seemed like a privilege to stay in this wonderful old place.  I stayed here on two occasions once with a 'new' room overlooking the river with en suite, and then in the old part where we stayed in the famous room used by the feudal lord all those years ago.  Both were fantastic and comfortable experiences.  While the whole experience was fantastic, perhaps the outstanding feature was the food - a host of spectacular dishes.  The onsen is also memorable and I recommend the rotemburo and its wonderful outlook to the forest opposite.

After a long day touring Koyasan our tour group travelled to Kamigoten Ryokan for a 1 night stopover. We enjoyed use of the private outdoor hot springs and later took advantage of the indoor onsens. Our room was large and comfortable with elevated views over the river. Our dinner was fabulous and the staff were very courteous. This was a very nice ryokan and although it did not have a pool the onsen more than made up for it. As we were leaving early next morning we did not have the opportunity to explore the district so cannot comment on attractions in the area.This was an ideal stopover.

Traditional Ryokan!   Room is big enough. The Dinner and breakfast are served in room. Dinner is good but not perfect.  Two rooms have toilet and other is not.  The share Bathroom but it is nice and clean.  The  onsen is good and the water quality is No. 1 in Japan.      Share Outdoor Onsen or you can lock it for  30min. privacy.    Good view for river and forest.  Nearby have other 2 more Similar Ryokan and   25min. Walk to Ryujinmura Mandara Museum and coffee shop.
The internet connection is not that good at Ryujin area.

Tanabe

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Stellar onsen experience.

Quaint charm, carefully prepared food + travel tips

Perfectly relaxing stay in the mountains

Beautiful and quaint

Peak experience

Great little onsen by the river

Great Ryokan at Ryujin Onsen

Breakfast included

Free Internet

Transfer

Parking

Suitable for children

Swimming Pool

Fitness centre

Bar or restaurant

For guests with disabilities

Conference hall

Spa Services

Ski slope nearby

Beach nearby

Air-conditioning

Pets allowed

Jacuzzi

Private Bathroom

Kitchen

Balcony

View from the window

Smoking allowed

Electric car charging

Kamigoten Ryokan

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For corporate clients